Just arrived, a 1959 Epiphone FT-79 Texan Model flat top guitar. This particular Texan is a very rare variation, the earliest version of the model made some years earlier than the actual Beatle guitar. After Gibson's parent company Chicago Musical Instruments bought the nearly defunct Epiphone operation in 1957, it took them a year or so to come up with a guitar line using the former competitor's name. The samples were shown at NAMM 1958 but production began in earnest for 1959. The FT-79 Texan used the body of Gibson's popular J-50 round-shouldered flat top, with a proprietary Epiphone neck and slightly different pickguard. This particular guitar's primary difference from 1960's Texans is the neck itself, built using an Epiphone NY blank, a stock of which was included with CMI's purchase of the company. This is made with a 3-strip mahogany/maple laminate with a more "V" shaped profile than period Gibson necks and a sharply pointed heel with a celluloid cap. The wider Epiphone headstock has a truss rod cover quite differently shaped from Gibson's without the "E" Epsilon logo, with the Epiphone name is inlaid at the top in pearl. The unbound rosewood fingerboard has pearl trapezoid block fingerboard inlay. The top carries a typical Gibson top-belly rosewood bridge is equipped with a bone saddle, and a tortoise celluloid pickguard smaller than the Gibson fitting from 1959. This is a very fine sounding guitar, a rare piece and definitely ranks with Gibson's finest 1950's flat top creations. #gowanus #retrofretvintageguitars #gitarr #gitarre #gitarren #guitare #guitarra #guitarlove #guitarporn #epiphonetexan #guitarsofinstagram #epiphonesofinstagram (at Retrofret Vintage Guitar)